We'll Meet Again
by thegermankaiserreich
Summary: Jaune didn't expect to die at the hands of a deathstalker in Forever Fall, but luckily, whatever God(s) that were up above decided to give him another chance... ...in Hope County, Montana.
1. We'll Meet Again

Jaune vaguely heard someone scream from a short distance away as he dropped Crocea Mors, two screams actually, and both from familiar people. But the Deathstalker stinger that had just stabbed its way through his chest distracted him from trying to think of who the screams belonged to.

When he killed the Ursa Major that had attacked Cardin after Jaune broke a jar of sap against his chestplate, he really should have expected that more Grimm would be nearby, the sap didn't just attract Ursa, but all Grimm. The deathstalker hadn't even really fought him either, just taken him by surprise as he fought a few Alpha Beowolves who had managed to drop his Aura into the red.

It was probably his stupidest mistake.

Boy was that saying something too.

Before he could ponder any more on what an idiot he was, the stinger was violently ripped out of his sternum and the bent remains of his chestplate. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his friends rapidly approaching him as he fell backwards. Weiss had decided to totally encase the giant scorpion in ice, leaving it totally immobile for quite some time.

Pyrrha and Ruby were the first to reach him as the others held back the Grimm and called desperately for Miss Goodwitch.

"Jaune!" They both cried as the got to him, Ruby having got on her knees and grabbing his hand barely holding back her tears, while Pyrrha broke down the moment she got to him and cried into his side.

"Hey, girls…" he coughed up some blood, "...looks like I goofed up big time huh?"

"No Jaune! You'll be fine! I promise!" Ruby said to him desperately, trying to convince herself more than him.

He smiled weakly at her through half-lidded eyes, "Not this time Little Red, I don't think even Professor Ozpin could survive this."

Hot tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she began to sob like the Spartan next to her, "No, you'll be okay, you have to be okay, I can't lose my best friend, please..."

Their sobs broke his already heavily damaged heart, "Hey Rubes, it'll be okay, we'll meet again, I promise."

His statement was met by deaf ears as more and more Grimm began to show up, attracted and intoxicated by the fear and sadness that was blasting like a beacon to the clearing, and the others were forced to fight harder in order to keep the grieving girls safe as well as fight their own shock and sadness. Nora was the most devastated of the fighters and fought brutally with clenched teeth and tears streaming down her face.

Jaune became desperate to keep his friends safe, even while his vision began to darken, and with his last breaths, he began to weakly sing…

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where_

_Don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again some sunny day_

Even through the roars of the Grimm, the gunshots, and the shouts of his friends, his voice seemed to cut through and was heard by all.

_Keep smiling through_

_Just like you always do_

_'Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away_

Ruby and Pyrrha looked up to him, fresh tear trails staining their cheeks.

"J-jaune, please, we l-love you, you c-can't d-die, p-please!" Pyrrha sobbed, confessing both her and Ruby's secret.

_So will you please say hello_

_To the folks that I know_

_Tell them I won't be long_

_They'll be happy to know_

_That as you saw me go_

_I was singing this song_

Jaune's eyes were still open, but he couldn't see, but he heard the confession.

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where_

_Don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again some sunny day_

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where_

_Don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again some sunny day_

Jaune's remaining senses began to deteriorate, he could not longer feel the two girls holding him, or the soft grass below him, but he kept singing.

_Keep smiling through_

_Just like you always do_

_'Til the blue skies_

_Drive the dark clouds far away_

Now his hearing was completely gone, and he could no longer hear the sounds of battle and Grimm, which he was happy for. Unfortunately, Ruby and Pyrrha's voices now seemed forever lost to him. But he kept singing.

_So will you please say hello_

_To the folks that I know_

_Tell them it won't be long_

_They'll be happy to know_

_That as you saw me go_

_I was singing this song_

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where_

_Don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again some sunny day_

He stopped as the song ended, and all was dark.

Until there was a bright white light


	2. New World, New Life, and New Friends

It was bright. Brighter than anything he'd ever seen or even been exposed to, the sun could not have hoped to match.

For a moment, he thought that he'd be heading to meet whatever Gods were above, and perhaps he did, looking back on the memory from the helicopter above the Henbane, that might've been exactly what had happened. Any memories he had in between his death as Jaune Luna Arc and his first birthday as Jaune Miles Rockefeller had either been lost or hadn't formed in the first place.

Looking back again, his death had been incredibly unpleasant, only made relatively bearable by the presence of his close friends. But, his reincarnation as a member of one of the most influential and well known families in the world was one of the better outcomes of his death, although he would have preferred if it didn't happen at all.

His particular branch of the family controlled a bunch of oil and gas companies west of the Mississippi, a result of his grandpa trying, and mostly succeeding, at reliving the golden years of the Rockefellers.

He and his parents lived in a large mansion in the northwest section of the Whitetail State Park, thanks to mostly bribes to the state because his parents loved the scenery so much. They had lived in southern California previously but had fled when they were repeatedly verbally attacked and ridiculed by the large group of democratic socialists and radical socialists that had apparently invaded the state in the 70's.

He was fine with that. He loved Hope County and the Whitetail mountains more than anything in the world, besides his friends of course.

Originally, when he'd gone to the school that his parents had built and funded next the the church in Fall's End, he hadn't been liked very much by the other students. Partially because he blew through the lessons like they weren't there and partially due to his family's immense wealth earned him both scorn and jealousy from the much less well off citizens of the town and county. After years of being alone, he'd started to regret asking his parents to let him go to public school. Until someone finally decided to approach him when he was 6.

He'd been eating alone at a picnic table with a book behind the church while the other children played and ate behind the school next door. Two girls a year younger than him who were usually alone themselves had apparently decided to approach him to see if he would share some of his over sized lunch. Being the kind soul he was, Jaune had smiled and immediately given them each a sandwich.

It took a week of this before he worked up the courage to ask their names. He learned that Rachel Jessop and Tracey Lader were from very different walks of life, although they became friends through the mutual hardship they experienced due to their 'families'. A few weeks after that, as his 7th birthday neared, two events would occur that would change his life. Two other kids, that weren't friends themselves, had decided that they wished to be friends with him as well. Their names were Nick Rye and Jessica Black, although Jessica preferred 'Jess'. Nick was incredibly friendly and was someone that Jaune would quickly begin to call his best friend. While Jess was a very cheerful and optimistic girl that reminded him of Ruby almost as much as Rachel did.

The other event, was his introduction to the new...religious community that had decided to make Hope County their new home. The leader, Joseph Seed, was a man in his late 20's. Originally, Jaune had thought of Joseph as a positive figure in the county, despite only meeting him once when he visited his parents' mansion.

However, his parents saw that Joseph was attempting to manipulate them in order to gain financial and materiel support from them in order to fund The Project at Eden's Gate.

For years, until he was 12, his parents had on and off legal battles with Jacob and John Seed, Joseph's brothers. Until then his life had been happy, he had friends he enjoyed being around immensely, and had even developed a crush on Jess.

Jaune and his parents learned eventually that Jess's parents were far from what they should have been, and had neglected her constantly resulting in the near total loss of her childhood. It was only salvaged through the school I. Fall's End and her friends. So, of course, his parents intervened and after a month or two she was able to live with her Grandmother, who was a badass prepper and an excessively good person.

His parents also met Jess's Uncle Dutch when they started talking outside after school one day, Dutch had taken a shine to Jaune and he started to call the prepper 'Uncle' himself. It gave him hope that the rich and the average joe could get along in such a way.

But all good things must come to an end. On a hot August night, while he and his parents were on the way back from a trip to Billings, their mansion was burned to the ground by an arsonist.

His parents were devastated by the loss, and decided that moving away was the best option after newly-appointed Sheriff Whitehorse had told them that the arsonist was someone from out of the county, and he apparently had no connections to anything that could be traced or implicated. Of course, Jaune and his parents suspected that the arsonist was a disciple of Joseph sent to send a message to them or kill them, but there was no evidence to prove that he was. The decision to move was a tough one, but necessary in order to guarantee their safety.

He and his friends cried freely when they were forced to say goodbye to each other, with Jess being particularly broken up over the loss of both her crush and his parents, two people she considered family. Rachel was also incredibly upset, since some of her happiest memories were in that house with her friends, it provided a wonderful escape from her wealthy but abusive parents.

His parents decided that moving to New York was the best option, and he spent the remainder of his childhood busying himself by studying things like aviation and history. He also delved deep into gun culture, winning several gold medals in the Olympics for Archery and target shooting.

He also discovered many things about Aura in his free time, having had it throughout his life it had increased exponentially in size, more than tripling the amount he had at Beacon. It turned out that Aura could be used to improve performance in just about anything, including the sensitivity of ones hearing and smell, and the distance and clarity he could see. Not only that, but channeling it allowed his already incredible strength to improve to the point where he could lift a diesel locomotive up one-handed with some difficulty.

When he turned 16 he graduated from Harvard with several master's degrees and a PhD in business administration. His life was by all means as perfect as it could be, but he wasn't happy. Having been forced to leave two sets of friends he held close to his heart had made him understably angry, and he had decided that despite the possibility of doing almost anything he bothered attempting, a humble position as a deputy sheriff in Hope County was what he wanted. That way, he could be with at least one set of friends that he missed dearly.

Which eventually led him to his current situation, riding in a helicopter with fellow deputies Staci Pratt and Joey Hudson, along with Sheriff Whitehorse himself, and even U.S. Marshal Burke. Their job was to arrest Joseph Seed, something Jaune was all too happy to do. He hadn't even found time to meet old friends.

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**Hello all, I just wanted to let you folks know I'm happy you're interested in the story, and to please please please reveiw if you have a comment or a question, possible feedback or constructive criticism, or anything really. It keeps me informed and lets me know to keep going.**


	3. An Attempt at an Arrest

The video that was compiled of various citizens of Hope County commenting on The Project was something Jaune had attempted to watch in order to pass the time during the chopper ride. He was pleasantly surprised to Nick and Mary May in the video, although he hadn't been friends with the latter, they had met. His anger towards Seed only increased when the man who filmed the inside of his church had his eyes gouged out by the cult leader. Shortly after the signal cut out, he was addressed by the Sheriff.

"Rookie, rookie!"

Jaune looked up at him, "You're wasting your time, there's no signal out here."

"Right." Jaune nodded and pocketed his phone.

He mostly ignored the conversation Marshal Burke had with the Sheriff, and the little talk the Sheriff and dispatch had. It was mostly irrelevant, with the Sheriff attempting once again to convince Burke to let Seed alone, for now at least. He was surprised along with Burke when they passed by the massive statue of Joseph in the Henbane. Although the other deputies and the sheriff had seen it before, they still expressed disbelief at the presence of the statue.

There was more talking between the other occupants of the chopper, but Jaune was lost in his own thoughts. The upcoming arrest had a very small chance of going smoothly, there were too few lawmen and too many cultists all armed to the teeth for him to feel safe.

A scowl marred his face for a second, his short beard and curled mustache flexing along with his face. The cultists might believe that they could protect The Father if gunfire was exchanged, but he had no qualms unleashing his Aura in order to protect the sheriff and the other deputies. They wouldn't even know what hit them.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sheriff ordering Pratt to set the chopper down, they had arrived.

"Now listen up," the Sheriff started, his mustache covering his lip was slightly turned downwards as he frowned in seriousness, "Three rules, stick close, keep your guns in your holsters and let me to the talking. Got it?" The last part was directed at the Marshal.

Said Marshal nodded, "Got it."

Whitehorse turned to him, "Rookie?"

"Understood sheriff."

He turned back towards the others, "Alright everyone, stay sharp. Let's go!"

Pratt stayed in the chopper while Marshal Burke, the Sheriff, and Hudson all got out. Jaune took a second to make sure his .45 was secured in it's holster before jumping out after them.

"He'll be in the church, stick close." The sheriff said, "and keep your eyes open, these folks spook easily."

Jaune placed his hand on his gun, ready to draw it if need be. His eyes darted quickly from cultist to cultulist, analyzing what sort of threat they could be while his other hand pulled lightly at the well-groomed hair on his face. He was nervous, not for his own safety, but the safety of the others. They didn't have the reflection of their soul protecting them like he did.

Hudson spoke up to him, "Rook! On me, stay loose huh?" She used the nickname derived from his last name.

He locked eyes with her for a second and returned with her nickname, "Roger that Huds."

The peggies around them began to mutter and talk about their presence, hostile undertones were very much present.

"Be calm. Stay calm everyone!" Whitehorse addressed them as they walked by, "this doesn't concern you."

"Sheriff I don't like this."

"Relax Hudson we'll be fine, everything is just fine."

The Marshal became exasperated, "Jesus Christ! You're wearing badges aren't you?"

Hudson was quick to reply, barely noticeable nervousness in her voice, "Yeah but they don't respect badges much out here."

"Probably never will either." Jaune added.

"Yeah? Well they'll respect a nine millimeter." Burke responded firmly.

"Not every problem can be solved with a bullet Marshal." Whitehorse stated as pitbulls began barking viscously at the lawmen.

When they reached the door to the church, Whitehorse again had to stop the Marshal from being too rash in his decisions, and Hudson assured Jaune that he would be okay. A gospel choir sang 'Amazing Grace' in the background the whole time.

Burke spoke up after Jaune and Hudson were given their orders, "Relax sheriff, you're about to get your name in the paper."

He received a sideways glance from Whitehorse due to that statement, before the door was opened.

Peggies filled the seats and many stood, listening to the Father himself preaching to the group, he wore yellow aviators, cloth around his hands and was shirtless with tattoos exposed of various religious imagery.

"Something is coming," he said, "you can feel it can't you?"

They began to slowly and quietly walk toward him, in order to keep the group pacified.

"That we are creeping toward the edge… and there will be a reckoning." He continued, the group totally enraptured by him and his words until the lawmen inevitably walked by them and caught their attention.

His voice began to rise in volume, "That is why we started The Project. Because we know what happens next!"

Jaune began to frown, eyes darting back and forth as his analysis of all possible threats began again.

"They will come," Joseph stated as the Marshal began to lose patience, "they will try to take from us. Take our guns. Take our freedom… take our faith! But we will not let them." Whoever 'they' were supposed to be became clear to the lawmen as he said this.

Burke's patience with Seed had officially ended, and he listened to only a few more sentences before interrupting, while the whole time the sheriff was attempting to keep him quiet.

"No, fuck this." He said lifting up the arrest warrant, "Joseph Seed! I have a warrant issued for your arrest, on the suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to harm!" Seed fell silent.

"Now, I want you to step forward and keep your hands where I can see 'em."

Seed put his arms up and out in front of him.

"Here they are… the Locusts in our garden… You see they have come for me!" The peggies filling the room began to form a human wall in-between the lawmen and The Father, as he continued to speak.

"They have come to take me away from you. They have come to destroy all that we've built!" The crowd began to get rowdy, motivated by his words to protect him.

Burke had begun to draw his gun, while Whitehorse yelled as both the Marshal and the peggies to stand down and lower their guns. All Jaune could do was keep his hand on his own gun, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

Seed suddenly placed reassuring hands on two of the cultists shoulders and he began to speak to them.

"We knew this moment would come." He said looking between them, "We have prepared for it…Go." He urged his disciples. "Go." The peggies began to shuffle out of the church, wary of the lawmen but willing to follow the Father's orders. "God will not let them take me."

Jaune turned and looked at the peggies as they glared at him on their way past and out the door. When he turned back to Seed, he had raised his hands and head to the sky.

"I saw when the Lamb opened the first seal, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts say, come and see…"

"Step forward." Burke ordered sternly.

Joseph lowered his hands and looked at him, "...and behold, it was a white horse…" His gaze turned to Jaune, who had removed his hand from his gun and instead took out his handcuffs, "...and Hell followed with him."

As he said this, three people, two men and a woman, walked from the sidelines to support Seed from just behind him. As Jaune glanced at them, he noticed that the woman seemed incredibly familiar.

'Rachel?' he realized as his eyes widened.

"Rookie," Burke interrupted his thoughts before he could act on them, "cuff this son of a bitch."

Jaune glanced at one more time Rachel before turning his attention to the Father. Unfortunately, whatever she was doing there was a talk for another time.

Joseph had his hands extended out in front of him, prepared for the handcuffs that were sure to placed on his wrists.

"God will not let you take me."

"Rook, put the cuffs on him!"

A beat passed, before Jaune stepped forward and placed the cuffs on his wrists.

"Sometimes the best thing to do…is to walk away." Joseph's words struck Jaune as one of the most ominous things he'd ever heard.

So he responded, "Then why didn't you?"

Joseph gave him an odd look before Jaune walked behind him and put his hand on his prisoner's shoulder in order to guide him forward.

Whitehorse looked at him and Burke, "Let's go."

The Marshal and the sheriff opened the doors to the church, and they all stepped out together. They were greeted swiftly by Hudson.

"We gotta get the fuck outta here…" her words were only proven to be wiser when a white pickup with the cults cross on it pulled up swiftly nearby, it brakes squeaking loudly as it did so.

"Fuckin' a right we do." Jaune responded in agreement.

Whitehorse took heed and took charge, "Marshal take point we're going right." All hands were placed on sidearms.

"On it."

Then, he spoke to Jaune as they began to walk quickly, "Stay on the path rookie."

"Roger that sheriff." He replied, before he spoke to Hudson.

"Hudson someone needs to take the rear."

She looked back at him and nodded.

"On it."

As they walked through the compound the cultists became more and more desperate to get their leader back as realization set in. Dogs barked and growled from behind fences, and the feeling of dread and urgency filled the air.

Right as they approached the chopper, rocks were thrown, arms were grabbed, and any chance of the arrest going smoothly jumped out a fifth story window.

The Marshal drew his weapon first as rocks hit him, with Whitehorse and Hudson following swiftly afterwards.

"Weapons out! Weapons out!" The sheriff called, and the first shots were fired in warning into the air.

"Fucking peggies!" Someone cursed as Hudson urged him into the chopper with Seed, who made no physical effort to resist, knowing that his followers would resist for him.

"Pratt get us out of here!" The sheriff yelled, "Get 'em off the windshield! Climb! Shake 'em off!"

"We're too heavy!"

"Nancy, Nancy, come in Nancy! Do you copy? Nancy!" The sheriff called into his headset, his attempts were cut short when Burke was forced to shoot a peggie who was trying to rip his gun out of his hands and him out of the helicopter. Blood splattered on Burke's face, and due to Jaune's close proximity, his as well.

"Goddammit Burke! Holster that weapon!" The sheriff's words went unheard as they lifted off with several unwanted passengers clinging to the outside of the chopper, while the crowd below essentially devolved into a riot.

There were three of them, one on the windshield, one on the right window and one on climbing through the open left door, right where Jaune and the Marshal sat. Burke, in his desperation grabbed Seed's arm in a futile attempt to force him to tell his disciples to stand down, all the while Seed sang 'Amazing Grace' as if nothing at all was happening.

As Burke did so, the cultist that was trying to climb through the door next to them grabbed him, and Burke was forced to struggle with her.

Jaune quickly began to assist but before he could jettison her from the vehicle, the cultist on the windshield had an epiphany.

"Son of a bitch!" Jaune yelled as the cultist launched himself into the rotor.

The chopper quickly began to spin out of control once the cultist jumped up and finished making himself comfortable in the rotor blades. The other two cultists were flung from the vehicle as it began it's violent, spiraling descent, undoubtedly killing them once they hit the ground.

As they neared the ground, and the passengers barring Seed began to panic and scream, Jaune grabbed the person next to him, who happened to be Hudson, in an attempt to assure somebody that they would be okay.

When they hit the ground, he closed his eyes, what he heard were the sounds of breaking glass, bending metal, and 'Amazing Grace'.

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**Hello again all and thank you for reading. I'm far from a good writer so I'm sorry for the odd composition of the story here, but that's just how it is for now.****Please review, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	4. The Beginning of the Conflict

**Welcome back**

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Jaune's Aura was incredibly large, or at least, he thought it was. However, despite its size, it was nearly knocked totally out by the helicopter crash. Although that was likely because the last thing he remembered was two of the choppers' blades hitting him right in the face as they detached from the plummeting hovercraft. It was only by God's grace that they hadn't hit the Marshal a few feet away.

When Jaune recovered from the brutal hits a minute or two after the crash, his first thought was, 'Looks like I gotta work on increasing my Aura again'. His second was, 'Oh Lord we're upside-down.'.

His eyes blearily opened, and he could vaguely hear Nancy calling desperately for Sheriff Whitehorse through one of the choppers' headsets.

He looked ahead and saw Burke, judging by his breathing, he was alive. To his right, Hudson sat equally alive, occasionally moving an arm as she slowly approached consciousness.

He looked to the sound of Nancy's voice, and found that their prisoner had disappeared, 'Oh shit, fuck, gotta radio Nancy.'

As he began to reach for the headset, he heard something. "_Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…_"

Just as he got a hold of it however, Seed grasped his wrist. It didn't hurt even relatively, and likely wasn't meant to, but it was firm enough for him to pay attention to the man. "_That saved a wretch like me…_ I told you that God wouldn't let you take me." He said as distressed calls continued to come out of the headset in Jaune's hand. A headset that was promptly taken out of Jaune's hands.

He would have loved to resist, but even though he would've been fine, a worried and angry crowd of peggies that began to approach the crash told him that his partners and Sheriff likely wouldn't survive.

"Dispatch?" Seed spoke into the microphone.

"Ohhh… my God." Nancy said in relief.

"Everything is just fine here. No need to call anyone."

A moment passed and Jaune felt blood drip off of the end of his mustache and onto the ceiling of the cockpit.

"Yes, Father. Praise be to you."

Eyes widened, "That trait-"

The headset was dropped and his mouth was covered, "Hush." Seed leaned in enough for Jaune to notice that his right glasses lens was broken, "No one is coming to save you."

Seed crawled out of the chopper and addressed the gathered crowd. Jaune mostly ignored his little speech, only hearing "...and we will kill all those who stand in our way." He would've listened more if he wasn't trying to rouse his colleagues.

He reached to his right, "Huds, hey Huds." He croaked, whether or not his attempts influenced her waking up or if she was simply going to wake up anyway, he didn't know, but she opened her eyes. The others did the same, it was a miracle they all survived.

"We gotta get outta here… we gotta get outta here…" The Sheriff said to them.

Any further intelligent thought from them was prevented when Seed shouted with arms raised, "BEGIN THE REAPING!"

"We gotta get outta here!" Whitehorse said again as the peggies began to approach. Jaune thought that was a damn good idea.

Jaune did the first thing he could think of, and reached over and tore Hudson's seatbelt off from where it was attached onto her seat, he would've done the same for the others, but even Burke was a little too far to reach.

Hudson landed on her upper back with a thud and a groan, before she could regain herself and run, she, the sheriff, and Pratt were yanked away, Jaune tried to grab her leg, but couldn't get a grip quick enough. Other worries became prominent however, and the peggies quickly began to attempt the same with them.

"Jesus Christ, we gotta get the fuck out of here!" Burke said from in front of him. His words were emphasized when one of the cultists was forced to retreat from grabbing Jaune as the spilled helicopter fuel around the wreck caught fire.

'Probably one of those damned torches." He thought.

"Let them burn." Seed said as Burke undid his seatbelt and began to run from them.

"This is God's will. This is their punishment."

Jaune finally looked down, or up rather, at his own seatbelt, took a hold of the ends and _yanked_. The metal was not made to withstand the type of force that he was able to put on it, and the jammed buckle snapped in seperate pieces immediately. Unfortunately, it seemed that Burke had been seen.

"Woah woah hey! They're getting away!" Someone called, and Jaune began to run up the trail and into the forest as a few bullets ricocheted off of his Aura.

After a few seconds of running, he realised the peggies were blocked from following due to the burning wreck. He slowed to a jog and saw a cabin a few hundred feet away. It was patrolled by a Peggie, Jaune crouch ran up to him and silently broke his neck. It saved ammo, and they were highly unlikely to follow orders if he drew his gun on them.

He took the man's .45 and ejected the magazine, pocketing it and the other three he found on the man. He briefly looted the shack, finding 15 dollars and another two mags. He allowed himself to relax for a second. He leaned against a wall before sliding down it and sitting on the floor.

"Well that was a fucking mess…" he glanced at the dead Peggie he'd dragged out of the line of sight of anyone walking by. It wasn't the first man he'd killed.

"Those movies were sure wrong when they said it didn't get easier…" suddenly, the yelling in the distance began to actually get closer. "Ah shit they got past." He quickly got up and began to jog further up the trail.

He hit a campfire almost immediately, 'Two of 'em' he thought, and prepared to sneak around. However, it seemed that fate had other plans.

"Hello...? Anyone hearing me? Hello? It's Burke… Hello?" A voice came through the radio on his belt at really quite a bad moment.

"What's that?" One of the peggies called toward him, the one that was sitting down grabbed a pistol and stood up.

"Oh fuck!" Jaune whispered to himself and rushed to shut off his radio.

"I think I lost them… I see a...a trailer nearby." Burke's voice continued to come through the radio, but was interrupted by a gunshot pinging off of Aura.

"Shit!" Jaune pulled out his .45 and quickly dumped a magazine into the two as they began to attack him.

Burke continued blabbering as a few nearby peggies heard the gunshots and rushed to help.

Jaune quickly got behind a tree and aimed a few shots at the three. Every shot he fired hit his target, the heart, and a bullet for each one as their own shots were embedded in the tree.

After a second, he heard gurgling and realized that he'd missed a shot and had instead hit the throat. "Poor guy, at least it's still a quick death...not quick enough." He fired again and the awful sound stopped.

A few seconds of relative peace allowed him to think as he looted the bodies of their ammo.

"Things have gone bad way too quickly, I hope father's stash is still at the house. God knows I'm gonna need it with how bad things are getting."

He stroked his very short, blonde beard and lightly curled mustache, "God I hope everyone is alright down here, I gotta get to Nick and Jess." They must have been affected by whatever the Hell was going on, after all, he'd done his research on The Project. There were _thousands _of them all over the country.

Originally, they were going to arrest Joseph Seed and Burke would take him before a court in Texas, before going straight to D.C. That would have been enough for most of the Cult to disband, but after _this?_ Crashing a police helicopter, kidnapping his partners, and shooting at him were things that he could not take lightly.

Not that burning down his childhood home was.

Jaune grit his teeth, "I'm gonna kill them, every last one of them."

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**It's late and lackluster I know, everything I write is. Please review with opinions or questions.**


	5. Meeting the Marshal

**'ere ya go m8s, enjoy.**

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Jaune quickly jogged up the hill to the trailer Burke was in. He'd spotted it almost immediately after the previous firefight, and rushed to join Burke. Strength in numbers after all.

As he approached the back door, he took note of the massive pile of miscellaneous ammunition next to a pile of logs, and the white pickup truck with the Cross of Eden on it.

Jaune pulled his .45 out of its holster on his hip, Burke was in the trailer, but there was no telling if someone else was as well.

He slowly pushed the door open, and as he looked to the right he was grabbed and pushed towards the wall from the left.

Burke made a sound of effort as he pushed the rookie into the wall, before quickly realizing who exactly he was attacking.

"It's me marshal, its me!" Jaune cried as his pistol clattered on the ground.

"Oh Jesus Christ… rook… I'm sorry," the marshal panted heavily, he'd clearly been running up until he had gotten to the trailer.

He backpedaled into another room, "Come on! Come on!" Burke pointed to a room on his left, "Check the room rook."

A cursory glance showed that the room was vacant except for the random items littered on the floor and bed.

Jaune looked back to Burke, who stealthily peaked out the front window of the trailer, "Room's empty," he said.

Burke glanced at him and nodded before placing his hands and his weight on the counter between them.

"Oh Jesus!" He quietly exclaimed, "I had no idea…" Burke glanced at a portrait next to the window.

Jaune blinked, it was a photo of the Seed family, Rachel was in it.

"Fuck!" Burke said, pointing to the picture as if he was accusing it of something, "We're putting this whole family away." Jaune watched as Burke took the photo off of the wall.

"All of 'em. Fucking lunatics!" His angry words were emphasized when he tossed the picture on the counter, the glass covering it broke from the impact.

Jaune winced when he saw Rachel in the picture again, she was sitting on the floor next to the chair Joseph Seed sat on. What could have possibly happened to make her join the Seed family?

He looked back to the marshal, who was approaching a weapon rack next to a window.

"We're gonna get out of this, rookie." Burke started, "First things first," he grabbed and checked the magazine on an AR-C which hung on the rack, "we gotta arm ourselves, here." He handed it to Jaune, who took it carefully.

Burke took the other weapon there for himself, a Colt M1911. He likely lost his own service weapon while fleeing.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do." Burke continued as he checked the magazine of his pistol.

They both walked to and knelt next to a window at the front of the small trailer. "There's a road out there."

Jaune listened silently, his thumb gently rubbing against the safety of his rifle should any armed cultists show up.

Burke looked to him, "We're gonna take it, we're gonna head northeast. It's probably only a few hours back to Missoula." Burke glanced back out the window before grabbing Jaune's shoulders, "Then we're gonna come back here with the goddamn National Guard and we're gonna take out the rest of these--"

"They came around this way! Check inside the trailers!" It seemed as if the peggies had arrived.

"Okay, shhhh…" hands still on Jaune's shoulders, Burke looked in the direction of the racket before looking back to Jaune and motioning with his head towards the back window. Jaune obeyed the order and quickly made his way to the window the sounds came through.

"They're in there!" The exclamation came with gunshots and the window breaking.

He and Burke began to shoot out the windows at their attackers. The fight pumped adrenaline into Jaune's veins. There must have been only about twenty of them, but they rushed towards the trailer with radical devotion, firing at the windows as they did.

Jaune took down most of them, a result of his automatic weapon, but they kept coming.

"Cover me!" Burke shouted, "I'm making a break for the truck!"

"I gotcha!" Jaune shouted back over the gunfire, and the marshal ran out the door and behind some logs between the trailer and the cultists. Jaune lay suppressing fire on anyone that dare peek up or at the marshal.

As Burke reached the truck, Jaune vaulted out the window into the line of fire, bullets ricocheted off of his Aura as he did so.

All of the peggies fired at him in an attempt to take him down, just as he planned. With all the fire on him, Burke would be free to run and start the truck up.

He quickly took a position between their attackers and the truck. The sound of the old truck trying to turn over reached his ears, and he shot a Peggie that tried to flank them.

Jaune began to get caught up in all the gunfire and occasional explosion when a fuel barrel was shot. Suddenly, he heard the revving of an engine and the truck surged out of the garage.

Burke slammed on the horn, "Come on! Get on Rook! We gotta go!"

Jaune didn't think twice before jumping into the passenger seat of the cab.

Burke floored it down the dirt road. The peggies continued to fire at the truck even as they rapidly pulled away, Jaune leaned out the window and blindly fired his AR-C back towards them in an effort to make them lay low for a few seconds.

After only a few seconds of barreling down the road, they reached a chain link fence gate that blocked the way to a paved road.

"Hold on!" Burke said right before they crashed through.

The paved road led to a much smoother ride, but also a plethora of peggies, they were everywhere.

"Nice work back there," Burke said, "I'd be dead if it weren't for you."

"Just doing my job marshal." Jaune replied as he put a fresh magazine into his assault rifle.

"We gotta get back…" Burke replied, a better thank you could come later, "but we gotta be smart. We don't know who we can trust."

Burke's face scrunched up in anger, "Fuckin' Nancy…"

Then, an ancient fighter plane flew over...


End file.
